Pool of Radiance - James M. Ward [94]
Ren spoke so rapidly that he jumbled his words, and it was only the clerics' experience in dealing with distraught people that helped them to catch the words "poison" and "bleeding." Two of the brothers held Ren as the others carried Tarl and Shal inside the temple.
"Our brothers will do everything they can for them. There is nothing more you can do, ranger. Go, find your peace where you can, and return in the morning."
Ren stared at them numbly, tears still welling in his eyes. "You can't let them die! If there's anything I can do… anything at all… I'll be… I'll be at the Laughing Goblin Inn, or maybe… maybe at the park, the one by the wizard's tower on that end of town." Ren pointed absently and walked dejectedly toward the gates.
"Don't forget your horse!" one of the clerics called.
But Ren only muttered, "No. It's hers," and walked on.
Ren didn't remember passing anything between the temple and the park. He didn't even have any idea how much time had passed. He had been at one place, some time ago, and now he was at another. The storm had cleared before Shal left the rooftop of the Laughing Goblin, but the sky was still cloudy, and it was now pitch dark, the kind of night when only rangers and elves saw well. Ren walked without hesitation through the annonwoods and into the center of the park, where a huge evergreen towered into the darkness.
He gathered pinecones till his hands could hold no more and laid them gently before the tree. Then he piled needles on top of those. Finally, he picked violets that had folded their flowers for the night and laid them atop the pile. He faced the tree and spoke softly. "I want desperately for my new friends to live, and I need somehow, Tempest, to finally accept your death… You know there's no one like you. Even Shal, as much as she looks like you, isn't really like you at all. I'm not… I'm not going to look for your replacement anymore, Tempest. There isn't one. But you're going to have to forgive me if I go on now with my life."
Ren clenched his teeth to hold back tears, then tossed the flowers and the needles and the pinecones, a handful at a time, around the tree. "What is it they say, Babe- 'from the earth to the earth'? You loved trees and the outdoors, like me, so this is my way of… of…" Ren's voice cracked, and he stopped until he could speak again. Then he gazed skyward and continued. It seemed fitting that the nearly full moon had broken through the clouds and was shining down on the little park. "This is my way of leaving you where you'd like to be. Okay?"
There was nothing more to say, so Ren simply stood for a while, staring into the night. After several minutes, his melancholy was interrupted by an ear-piercing shriek.
Ren made his way stealthily to the edge of the park closest to the fortress wall. The sounds were coming from the opposite side of the wall. Ren launched his grappling hook high into the air. It caught, but when he tugged, it fell back to the ground. On his second try, the three-pronged hook held firm, and Ren hauled himself steadily to the top of the fortress wall.
Below, a lone warrior was lashing out furiously at an attacking troll. Two other warriors lay nearby, probably dead, the area around them a scrap heap of troll parts. From where he crouched atop the wall, Ren could see the hands, legs, even heads, and other miscellaneous bits of troll beginning to move together, regenerating.
Few creatures in the Realms were as hideous as trolls. Their bodies, even whole, were nightmarish-elongated parodies of giant, emaciated humans-and their faces were morbid caricatures from every child's worst dreams, with long, wart-covered noses and black, seemingly empty eye sockets. Worse yet, their mutilated bodies refused to die. Even if a fighter were lucky enough to slice a troll to ribbons, its detached hand might claw at his leg and pull him to the ground, or the